Dear Brothers and Co-laborers in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
It has been a conscious hope and burden of the Northern Plains Classis for several years now that we become heavily engaged in the work of church planting within our Classis boundaries. The Missions committee is by far our busiest committee with the weighty task of establishing and putting into motion our strategic plan of targeting key areas.
The work of the church is to heed our Lord’s call to make disciples (Matt. 28:19) by going into the highways and byways (Matt. 22:9) and calling people to believe in the Lord Jesus, the only Savior, and bringing them into the church. It is also the work of the church to teach them how to walk as those who have been called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all (Ephesians 4:1-6).
This year marks our 40th meeting. In Old Testament terms, that means the Classis has been around for a generation. In 1986, the Classis boasted 12 churches with a communicant membership of 939 and a baptized membership of 1,139 with 485 families. A generation later there are nine churches and only six (half) of the original remain. Total communicant membership has fallen to 398 and baptized membership to 494. In forty years, we have added two churches through mission work, and one recently moved into our Classis from another.
While the year 2023 was described as an exhausting year, with a flurry of activity and many personal challenges for many of our pastors, the year 2024 could be described as a year of recovery where much of the flurry of activity drained away into a pool of still waters. The Executive Committee issued no circulars, although there was some interaction with our churches with vacant pulpits.
Hope Reformed Church has extended a call to Elder Larry Lynch who is to be examined in this Classis for licensure. He is on track to graduate this May from Heidelberg Theological Seminary, and pending his sustaining his exam, he will be able to accept that call. Elder Fickbohm reports that the congregation is holding firm, though vacant over the course of the past year. He states: “We have maintained weekly worship, held our midweek meetings for study and prayer, and continued with confirmation class.” While expressing deep appreciation for the work of Rev. Haddock, they greatly anticipate and look forward to Mr. Lynch becoming their pastor, praying the Lord will use him in great ways to advance the gospel in Pierre.
Grace Reformed Church in Mitchell is coming up on two years of being vacant. However, they are thankful to be in the able hands of Rev. Henderson who serves them well as their stated supply. They have been actively looking for their next pastor with all due diligence and patience, waiting on the Lord for one who will be a right fit for their congregation.
From the reports of our two men who are newer in their charges, it is apparent that they are fully engaged in the work of the ministry, in preaching, counseling, catechizing, and reaching out to their respective communities. Rev. Pulliam reports they have seen several new people coming into the assembly and folding into the life of the church. Rev. Hall reports a slight decline in their membership due largely to cleaning up their roles by encouraging members who have moved away to join churches where they reside. He also reports that he is making progress as the Classis clerk, becoming comfortable with how to set up the functionality of the office.
First Reformed Church in Aberdeen is working on a long-range strategic plan to secure the lots around the church to expand the church building in the future. The membership saw a few members leave, but the end of the year has seen two families with young children attending and considering membership, alongside a new member who is also beginning pre-marriage counseling. The church added an elder and deacon this year who were ordained and installed into the offices. A 4:00 PM Sunday worship service was begun at the beginning of 2025. Rev. Eric Kayayan, our Reformed Faith and Life Missionary to the French-speaking world, was their featured speaker at the Reformation Bible Conference. This coming year, Dr. Frank Walker will be the speaker presenting on the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.
Rev. Irwin rejoices that he enjoyed restored health this past year, enabling him to accomplish a very busy preaching (over 100 times) and teaching schedule in Ashley. He functions much like a country preacher for the whole community in addition to being a faithful pastor to the Salem Reformed Church. Though small in size, the congregation’s footprint is very large in the community. The congregation was saddened by the death of one of its two elders, but an inactive elder has stepped back into the Spiritual Council.
Rev. Lassley was just being released from the hospital after suffering a stroke when 2024 began. The Lord sustained him as he battled to be in the pulpit and to engage in the labors of the ministry. His wife, Amy, was essential to his activities as a nurse and chauffeur, taking him where he needed to go for much of the year. He continued his Bible Study in Brookings until the couple instrumental in organizing it planned to move away. The Lord also provided a business chaplaincy opportunity in the nearby community of Summit and later a second one in Watertown. He reports that the church is making progress, and he is optimistic for better things this year.
Rev. Schwichtenberg speaks highly of how the church in Herried demonstrated the love of Christ in supporting him in a year that he described as very difficult. As he finished his tenth year in the ministry, he battled swings between optimism and pessimism, speaking of wrestling with “the dark night of the soul” or melancholy. It is good for us to be more transparent with what is often viewed as the signs of pastor burnout. He points to fellowship with a couple of other RCUS pastors as God’s balm to help him through. He adds that “we as pastors of the Northern Plains Classis need to continually fellowship with one another whether that be a book study, phone call, sharing a meal, or having a cup of coffee together.”
Grace Reformed Church of Dickinson held a celebration Sunday to express their gratitude and praise to God for bringing them to a point that they are no longer a mission church. Financially, they are doing well at retiring the debt on the building, but they still have a ways to go. The Lord is also blessing them with a continual flow of visitors who are moving toward membership.
Many of the pastors speak of various ways in which they are reaching into their community with the gospel. Sermonaudio is a tool that seems to be growing more popular each year. In some of our congregations, there are not ample opportunities for evangelism in the town due to its size. In other communities, efforts are continually underway. The mission of the church of being light in the world should always be foremost upon our minds.
Our culture seems to be shifting again and moving away from the woke ideology to showing more interest in spiritual renewal and a “common sense” ideology. The most downloaded app last year was Hallow, a prayer app; perhaps there needs to be serious consideration of how to reach this younger generation with the word of life. The biggest challenge, however, remains finding men to enter into the gospel ministry with a passion for the lost.
The Missions Committee was our busiest committee for a reason. There were two works underway at the start of the year and both were discontinued during the year. It is the view of the committee that if we are to proceed to plant new churches, then we must implore the Lord to give us capable men called to do that work, rather than limping along using men who have already been called and are serving in their own charges. The Committee writes:
Finally, the members of the committee spent time discussing the strategic plan going forward. It was agreed that we should target the large metropolitan areas in the […] Classis, such as in and around Fargo, ND, Billings, MT, and/or Boise, ID among other possibilities. But in order to move forward, the Lord has to raise up the evangelists/missionaries to accomplish the outreach. We take seriously the command of our Lord Jesus Christ recorded in the Gospel of Matthew “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” (Matt. 9:35–38). Please continue to pray with us for the Lord of the harvest to raise up the laborers needed.
One matter of note for this Classis is the consideration of a joint Classis/Presbytery meeting with our fraternal brothers that is being discussed within the Interchurch committees. It would be good for us to have a broader and more personal exposure with the men in these other bodies that goes beyond exchanging fraternal delegates.
Looking over the finances of the churches and the Classis, it is amazing how the Lord has blessed us in abundance financially. The projects of the Classis are all well-funded. But we pray that the Lord would provide us with the right man to serve in the position of an at-large evangelist. We desire that we will be used by our Lord in the building of his church for the next generation.
In Christ’s Service,
Rev. Hank Bowen
First Reformed Church
Aberdeen, SD